NZ Police buying new face tech: Report
21 August 2018 16:42 GMT

Senior New Zealand police officers have told local media that the force needs a new face recognition system.

Police national forensic services manager Inspector John Walker, of Wellington, told the Otago Times that NZ Police are currently acquiring a new image management system and advanced facial recognition technology.

The newspaper added that he said it was reviewing proposals from several companies supplying such systems.

The police's present facial recognition system was outdated and rarely used, he said. "It's become obsolete and it doesn't have any practical application,''

The newspaper report noted that any new system would be able to identify people from still images taken from CCTV footage, but it would not extend to real-time tracking of people's faces.

"It's not planned for live streaming, it's planned for identifying an offender that's just smacked someone over on CCTV.''